GPS Is Getting Replaced and Most People Have No Idea

Alright, here's the thing that hit me hardest this morning.

We have been flying blind, literally, with positioning technology that was designed in the Cold War.

And a startup called Zona Space Systems is about to change that.

Not incrementally, not a software patch.

infrastructure replacement, and it's happening this month.

Zona is launching six satellites on a SpaceX rocket, beginning beta testing of a system called Pulsar, the first commercial alternative to GPS ever built.

And before you say, okay, another satellite company, Let me tell you what makes Pulsar different.

GPS gives you meter level accuracy.

Meter level.

That's fine for turn left on Main Street, but it is absolutely useless when you're trying to land an autonomous drone on a specific rooftop or guide a robotic excavator to a grade tolerance of a quarter inch or navigate an autonomous vehicle through an urban canyon where the signal bounces off buildings like a pinball, Pulsar delivers centimeter level precision, and it works inside buildings, and it resists jamming and spoofing, which if you've been watching what's happening in conflict zones, you know is not a theoretical problem anymore.

Here's the kicker that made me put the coffee down.

Pulsar signals are compatible with existing GPS receivers via a software update.

That's the whole ballgame right there.

The single biggest barrier to any new positioning system has always been hardware replacement costs.

Zona just removed that barrier.

You want in? Update the software.

Done.

They've raised over $300 million in venture funding, including $20 million directly from the US Space Force, which tells you everything about how seriously the defense community is taking this.

For anyone in AEC, autonomous vehicles, robotics, or anything that depends on knowing exactly where something is And I mean exactly.

You need to be tracking Pulsar from this moment forward.

The full constellation is 258 satellites.

So we're in early innings.

But the direction is unmistakable.

GPS has been the only game in town for 50 years.

Pulsar is coming to play.

Alright, here's the thing that hit me hardest this morning.

We have been flying blind, literally, with positioning technology that was designed in the Cold War.

And a startup called Zona Space Systems is about to change that.

Not incrementally, not a software patch.

infrastructure replacement, and it's happening this month.

Zona is launching six satellites on a SpaceX rocket, beginning beta testing of a system called Pulsar, the first commercial alternative to GPS ever built.

And before you say, okay, another satellite company, Let me tell you what makes Pulsar different.

GPS gives you meter level accuracy.

Meter level.

That's fine for turn left on Main Street, but it is absolutely useless when you're trying to land an autonomous drone on a specific rooftop or guide a robotic excavator to a grade tolerance of a quarter inch or navigate an autonomous vehicle through an urban canyon where the signal bounces off buildings like a pinball, Pulsar delivers centimeter level precision, and it works inside buildings, and it resists jamming and spoofing, which if you've been watching what's happening in conflict zones, you know is not a theoretical problem anymore.

Here's the kicker that made me put the coffee down.

Pulsar signals are compatible with existing GPS receivers via a software update.

That's the whole ballgame right there.

The single biggest barrier to any new positioning system has always been hardware replacement costs.

Zona just removed that barrier.

You want in? Update the software.

Done.

They've raised over $300 million in venture funding, including $20 million directly from the US Space Force, which tells you everything about how seriously the defense community is taking this.

For anyone in AEC, autonomous vehicles, robotics, or anything that depends on knowing exactly where something is And I mean exactly.

You need to be tracking Pulsar from this moment forward.

The full constellation is 258 satellites.

So we're in early innings.

But the direction is unmistakable.

GPS has been the only game in town for 50 years.

Pulsar is coming to play.